After passing through the gate, they found that the walls of the pathway behind them were also full of interconnected tubes, gears that were precisely meshed, and mechanical structures that were even spurting out steam nonstop. They felt that they had entered the internal organs of a mechanical beast.
After traversing through the 'intestines' of the mechanical behemoth for a long time, there was a gate at the bottom that was actually made of translucent crystal. Vaguely, one could even see countless sealed lightning bolts flowing slowly between the crystals, like venomous snakes that were guarding the treasure.
However, under the command of the mysterious gold man, the lightning vipers all retreated. The crystal gate gradually turned transparent and disappeared.
Moving further down, they passed another gate made of plants. It was a gate that was half-solid and enshrouded in mist. There were also quite a few gates that were of vastly different styles and had complicated technologies that even Li Yao had never heard of before.
Every gate was opened in a different way. Some of the methods were even far beyond the limits of human physiology and imagination.
But the mysterious gold man seemed to have passed through the place hundreds of times and was familiar with every step. Without any hesitation, he opened all the gates smoothly.
After passing through every gate and going a hundred meters underground, they seemed to have entered a brand-new world.
Behind the crystal gate, clusters of brilliant crystals were growing in the pathway. They were vaguely emitting dazzling brilliance and had not completely perished after thousands of years.
Behind the gate of plants, it was like a withered primitive jungle. The vines and shrubs had dried up into silhouettes that looked like human beings.
Behind the gate of mist were traces that looked like frozen smoke, like the explorers from a long time ago whose bodies of flesh and blood had long been obliterated, but their souls had been preserved in a certain unbelievable way and were guiding the latecomers.
Li Yao even saw … countless things that looked like the corpses of creatures on the walls of one of the pathways.
Those 'things' looked like gorillas with four arms and an enormous, weird eye on their forehead, but they had the luster and texture of bronze. After billions of years of corrosion, they gradually melted with the pathway and turned into raging, highly twisted murals. The only thing left was the tiny black holes, which were their eyes.
This inconceivable scene made Li Yao shudder.
His mind raced, and he gradually understood that this should be a laboratory, research center, or forward base left behind by countless civilizations in the past hundreds of millions of years when they tried to explore the ancient ruins.
When the former rulers of the Pangu Universe, the ancient carbon-based intelligent life forms, discovered the existence of the ancient ruins, it was natural that they gathered the most cutting-edge talents and technology to build the grandest laboratories and bases here, trying to uncover the mysteries of the ancient ruins, just like the Pangu civilization and the human civilization.
However, a certain mysterious power had erased the civilizations of dozens or even hundreds of ancient carbon-based intelligent life forms, as well as all traces of their existence. Only the ruins deep underground told of their former glory.
Hundreds of thousands or millions of years later, a new generation of carbon-based intelligent life developed a developed civilization. They found the ancient ruins and built their own laboratories and forward bases on the ruins of the previous civilization. Then, they were destroyed again.
This cycle was endless. Today, hundreds of millions of years later, there were dozens of layers of ruins under the City of Silver, turning into a time maze that was a hundred times larger and more complicated than the surface world.
If the City of Silver was destroyed by the ferocious beast tide today, and the ferocious beast tide was destroyed by the terrifying power released by the "Skysplit Tower", then in less than a few hundred thousand years, the ruins of the City of Silver would be destroyed by the erosion of time, becoming the topmost layer of ruins.
"Hundreds of generations of civilizations stopped here, as if this is the end of civilization!"
Li Yao was deeply shocked.
He didn't believe that when a civilization came here, they wouldn't see the traces of the destruction of dozens or even dozens of civilizations in front of them.
Including the database of the "other half of Fuxi," there were at least dozens of civilizations recorded clearly.
Despite knowing the danger of the ancient ruins, these civilizations still rushed forward, wave after wave, like moths to a flame. Why?
Li Yao's mind raced, and then he smiled bitterly, laughing at himself for being too stupid.
"Curiosity" and "thirst for knowledge" were essential conditions for the success of a civilization. The reason why "man" was "man" was that he had an endless thirst for the "unknown" and the "future."
No civilization would be able to leave such a huge ancient ruin untouched.
There would always be ambitious people, adventurers, and lunatics. Be it justice or evil, these people were the first driving force that encouraged a civilization to move forward.
Furthermore, the higher a civilization's development, the more serious its tendency to self-destruction.
Even if the ancient ruins didn't exist, couldn't a civilization develop a "universal magical treasure" that could destroy itself?
A civilization that couldn't destroy itself wasn't worthy of being called a civilization.
Perhaps, the so-called civilization was such a crazy "universal virus"?
Li Yao pondered.
In the beginning, he tried to communicate with the mysterious golden man, including shouting and transmitting telepathic thoughts, but the other party turned a deaf ear and continued to run ahead.
Li Yao knew that the other party was leading him, so he could only hold back his anxiety and follow him closely while scanning every detail around him.
The last gate let out a muffled sound that sounded like a thunderclap from underground and retracted into the surrounding rock walls. In front of them was no longer a narrow tunnel or collapsed ruins, but a huge cave with a diameter of more than five hundred meters.
A vague fog of light surrounded the cave. The fog was like a living spirit that would condense as Li Yao's eyes moved. When the fog of light condensed, its brightness would be slightly higher, allowing Li Yao to see everything around him clearly.
This place was almost like … a museum of the prehistoric civilization.
In the hazy fog of light, Li Yao first saw the remains of a "space knight", which had been carefully dissected into hundreds of units. Even the most delicate core mechanical structure had been dismantled, as if a mechanical surgery had been performed.
Then, there was a structure in the shape of a crystal pyramid. It was crystal clear on the outside, but inside, it was full of tiny holes. Li Yao observed for a long time before he came to the conclusion that the holes that were like a network of nerves were indeed "nerves" in a certain sense. Information was transmitted and processed through the transmission, refraction, and diffraction of photoelectric signals in the holes, which was an extremely efficient approach.
Li Yao did not know whether such a structure was a creation of the prehistoric civilization or a corpse of the prehistoric civilization. Although it did not look like a carbon-based intelligent life, it could be the crystal left behind by a certain kind of marine creature that was similar to coral after its death.
There were a lot of weird things like the crystal pyramid in the fog, but before Li Yao could examine them carefully, the mysterious golden man walked straight into the fog.
When the fog dispersed, a few enormous figures were vaguely revealed.
Li Yao's pupils constricted violently. He discovered a few more Pangu people.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the Pangu people were all still and soaked in the enormous strengthened crystal towers that were filled with preservatives.
Those Pangu people had long been dead and made into "specimens".
No, not just the Pangu people. Hundreds of crystal towers stood in the depths of the fog. Inside each cluster of crystals was the corpse of a prehistoric carbon-based intelligent life. Not just the Pangu people, whose skin was gray and whose head was full of wrinkles for heat dissipation, there was also the Nuwa Clan, whose head was a human head and a snake's body, the Kuafu Clan, which looked no different from plants, the Houyi Clan, which was made of black beetles, the Gonggong Clan, which evolved from sponges and looked like transparent gel … The corpses of thirteen primeval species were all collected here. Also, many of the corpses had been precisely cut apart, with the skin and muscles removed, leaving only veins and neural networks.
The owner of the place seemed to have gained a deep understanding of the biological structure of the intelligent species in the primeval era in such a way.
There were also ferocious beasts. Passing the crystal towers that stored the corpses of the primeval species, Li Yao found more than ten operating tables that had been modified from maintenance platforms. The bloody corpses of the ferocious beasts were placed on the tables. On the largest 'operating table', there was even the head of a Tyrant Armored Dragon. The skull had been cut open and removed entirely, revealing an abnormal, mutated brain that was sealed by a certain bright green gel to prevent it from withering and rotting.
There were also hundreds of crystal threads that were inserted into the brain of the Tyrant Armored Dragon and connected to a few super crystal processors from the Star Ocean Imperium nearby. The crystal processors were emitting gloomy fluorescence and performing high-speed calculations, creating the virtual brain of the Tyrant Armored Dragon on a 3D light beam.
As the crystal processors issued instructions, the Tyrant Armored Dragon, which only had a head left, did not seem to be dead yet. It was blinking now and then.
It seemed that the owner of the place had a very precise understanding of the brain structure of the Tyrant Armored Dragon, as well as its combat pattern and thinking habits. That was why he had been able to jump to its head without alarming anyone and kill it with one attack!
Li Yao was more and more curious about the identity of the mysterious gold man. In the museum of the prehistoric civilization, there were so many 'space knights', 'Tyrant Armored Dragon' corpses, and almost a hundred corpses of the intelligent creatures in the primeval era. In the cognition of most human beings, they were 'specimens of gods'!
Who was he exactly?
An obvious answer was on the verge of popping up in Li Yao's head.
The name, which boasted infinite power and almost represented 'invincibility', made Li Yao find it difficult to breathe and feel that his heart was racing. The blood all over his body was boiling, and his pores were widening beyond his control, almost spurting out crimson steam.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
